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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27187904">You Must Remember This</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/addicted_2_fandoms/pseuds/addicted_2_fandoms'>addicted_2_fandoms</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>House MD Tumblr Drabbles [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>House M.D.</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Cute, Episode: s07e12 You Must Remember This, First Kiss, Fluff, Happy Ending, House Being House, Implied Hilson, M/M, Rare Pairings, Studying</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 03:54:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,220</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27187904</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/addicted_2_fandoms/pseuds/addicted_2_fandoms</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>or how it should have gone...</p><p>Taub and Foreman are studying but he never buys the test</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eric Foreman/Chris Taub</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>House MD Tumblr Drabbles [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984655</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>You Must Remember This</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallredboy/gifts">smallredboy</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/knightnox/gifts">knightnox</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This fic has been gifted to two people who inspired my whole Taub/Foreman ship (even if they don't know it, hehe)</p><p>Wowow, I hope this is good, I started working on this ages ago and never had the motivation to finish it, until I got a Taub/Foreman ask on Tumblr</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Taub and Foreman sat across from each other at Foreman’s dining table, looking over Taub’s practice pathology exam. It had taken hours to convince Taub to study under a lot of threats and what House would call his ‘big, black scariness’, the racist bastard. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How'd I do?” Taub asks, searching Foreman’s poker face for a give away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Great.” The answer was short, curt, not out of the ordinary for the younger man.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Great? How great? How many did I miss?” He sounds frantic as he tries to snatch the practice paper from Foreman.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s not about the numbers.” He replies, shifting back and trying to keep the paper away from the smaller man. “Don’t-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Taub’s face turned sour. “54%?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>How do you comfort someone older than you, it’s not like it was his job. “Th-they make the practice tests harder than the actual exam.” The excuse was so pathetic, he didn’t even believe it coming out of his own mouth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, my God, now I'm choking in your living room. This isn't gonna work.” He sighed resignedly, sticking his face in his hands, before reaching in his pocket for his phone, dialing someone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Who are you calling?” Foreman sounded confused, and was that a touch of offense in his voice? Nah, Taub was imagining it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He pulled the phone away from his ear. “I found the guy. He can sell me a copy of the test.” Before he can react, the phone is snatched from his grip.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know it's cheating, and I suck as a person. But… the test is tomorrow morning.” He looked so genuinely distraught, Foreman wanted to reach out and- not thinking like that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He tries to find the right words to say, words that sound like him but aren’t too harsh. This is a broken man in front of him. “It's not about the cheating. It's about your confidence. You steal that test, and you'll never get it back.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can't handle failing at one more thing in my life.” Taub looked so small and so vulnerable, not for the last time that evening, Foreman wants to wrap him up in his arms. When did he get so sappy?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You're a good doctor. I've seen what you're capable of. You're fast, you're decisive, and you're bold. And those are not the qualities of someone who needs to steal a test. There's nothing on it that you don't already know. You just need to know that you know it.” Holy shit, where did that come from? Please don’t take it the wrong way. Please don’t take it the wrong way. Please don’t take it the wrong way.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was silence for a moment and Foreman was sure the smaller man was about to punch him or worse, leave. Instead he hears, barely audibly, “keep talking.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We need you on the team.” He looks into Taub’s eyes, hoping he can express everything he wants to, before thinking </span>
  <em>
    <span>fuck it</span>
  </em>
  <span> and reaching out for his hands. “So we're gonna sit here and take another practice test and we're gonna keep taking them until you've kicked its ass! You can do this! You feel me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Foreman was grinning wildly, hyping Taub up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.” He murmured lowly, not sharing Foreman’s enthusiasm. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Their hands were still linked, Foreman noticed as Taub stared at the table in front of him and decided to pull them to his chest. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Taub?” Ha asked softly, not eliciting a response from the hunched over man. He placed both of the smaller hands into his larger one, taking his right hand and lifting Taub’s chin. “Chris?”</span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now that got the man’s attention, coupled with the soft touches and low tones. “E-eric?” Taub let a soft whimper out, trying to hide his face although his hands were out of use. The one whimper turned into a cacophony of sniffles, muffled whimpers and whispered apologies. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think I can do this. I really don’t think I can. I mean, I mean. What if I fail? I’m never gonna live up to the first time I took the exam.” He was sniffling and borderline sobbing by this point.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Foreman broke, he couldn’t bear to see Taub like that, as soon as he released the smaller man’s hands, he curled in on himself, tucking his knees under his chin and falling into his hands. He crossed around the table and pulled the older man into his lap, holding him and whispering nonsense praise in his ears. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So perfect, you’re good at what you do, okay? It doesn't matter if you don’t get a perfect score, no one’s gonna see you any differently. Me least of all, I’m not gonna judge you for not doing as well as you did when your life depended on getting a perfect mark. It doesn’t anymore, so you </span>
  <em>
    <span>don’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> have to stress, okay? How about you take the test one more time, you can sit right here if you’d like, okay?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Taub gave a tiny nod, barely perceptible if Foreman hadn’t been looking for it. He sat Taub upright, still holding him around the middle and facing him to the table. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They sat in silence as Taub completed the test, every so often barely avoiding slamming his head against the table or crying. Foreman’s legs had gone numb by the time Taub had finished the test, but he honestly didn’t care, just happy to be so close to him. Seriously Foreman, when did you get so sappy?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And done.” He had a little smile on his face, obviously pleased with himself and Foreman smiled back, relieved to have the older man in a better mood. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You got 89% this time, I told you, you know this stuff and I bet if any of this happened at work you’d know what to do. You got this, okay?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Taub sniffled, nodding into Foreman’s chest which he’d migrated to as Foreman was marking his test.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Pizza sound good? I’ll get your favourite.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Taub nodded eagerly, glad that Foreman remembered and he wouldn’t have to tell him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wanna watch a movie?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And have House kill us for not studying?” He’d found his voice again, cracking mediocre jokes at best, but Foreman laughed anyway.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I always knew he put a bug on us.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They moved over to the couch, Foreman carrying Taub despite all his protesting. “You need to relax,” and that was the end of that conversation. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They sat huddled next to each other only moving to grab the beers out of the fridge and get the pizza. What had started out as a respectable distance, with an awkward energy in the air had turned into Taub’s head on Foreman’s shoulder and his legs thrown over the taller man’s legs. They held each other close, not having to talk about it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It became a nightly thing for them, one throwing their feet in the other’s lap and just lying there peacefully, their first happening after Taub had passed his exam and if anyone noticed the two looked happier than usual, it wasn’t brought up. Although House had a knowing look in his eye whenever he passed the two of them going home together, making his way to Wilson’s car. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<span>So if Foreman’s apartment had turned into </span>
  <em>
    <span>their</span>
  </em>
  <span> apartment, he thought that was a fair trade for all the cuddles.</span>
</p>
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